Flying Solo

"Mommy, tell me de story of when Emerie was bor-ren," Mirabella says again. Bed time, with Daddy away, is a little different. I sit and feed Emerie in the red chair while Mirabella sits up in her bed. I tell her stories, but these are her favorites.

"So we waited for the bus, but it didn't come, and we had to walk the whole way," I tell her.

"You forgot, Mommy!" Mirabella interrupts me. "De car was COVERED in snow and we had to wait while Daddy cleaned it off." Maybe we need to find new stories.

The Boy has taken a new position-- one we prayed for and are excited about-- and it has brought with it serious changes. In the month of November, we have spent six nights at home together. We've been together, for another week or so, but it was in Connecticut and the Poconos visiting family. He has ventured all over Virginia, to Chicago twice and to Charlotte and I've been trying to manage our normal life alone. I have cut back my hours at work by a day, and am often able to work one day per week from home. I know we will figure it out, but we haven't yet.

There are certainly good things. I feel like I am spending more time with my girls, and though many days are tough, being able to work at home on occasion is fantastic. I have been incredibly blessed with friends in the neighborhood who watch my children and park my car in the rain and offer to cook me dinner even though they have a newborn (seriously-- want to move into my neighborhood?!). But I cannot figure out how to leave the house less than two hours after I get up. I can't manage to get home before it's dark, which matters when you don't have off-street parking and three to five bags to go with the two kids. Oh yeah, and this whole marriage from a distance thing is taking some getting used to.

During the first trip to Chicago, The Boy called to tell me he was headed to the Bulls game-- to sit in the private box. I was painting Emerie's face with sweet potatoes. I could not relate. Tonight, while The Boy was sitting in Chicago's Ritz and we were driving past the airport on the way home, we told him about the first 6 steps Emerie took today, and how Mirabella peed on the potty and is going to have a gymnastics birthday party in a couple weeks. We talk to him every night and count the days. We divide and conquer well, but the coming back together is harder than we thought. We know it won't always be just like this.

"Mommy, I want to hear de story about when God was bor-ren," Mirabella said in the car the other day. I think I need backup.